No. 4.] STATE NURFERY INSPECTOR. 183 



for stock entering this Commonwealth, but it will be ex- 

 amined at point of destination and any action taken that its 

 condition rcqnires. The real effectiveness of this method 

 can best be seen by the following remark, contained in a 

 letter from a nurseryman who has shipped a great deal into 

 Massachusetts in the past, which it was probably not antici- 

 pated would fall into the hands of the inspector : " We pre- 

 sume there is some way for the nurserymen to get around 

 this law." 



The only disadvantage under the new system v;ill be that 

 at times there will be a great deal of work examining these 

 shipments which must be handled very quickly as they will 

 otherwise spoil. Possibly in some cases it may be impossible 

 to get to them all. In any case, however, the determination 

 of what stock is fit to enter Massachusetts rests in our own 

 hands and is not decided by inspectors who may, at least in 

 some cases, " care far less what leaves their State than what 

 enters it." 



Outside Inspections. — These have been few during the 

 past season. In some cases certain places have been declared 

 public nuisances in accordance with the terms of the law, 

 and their owners instructed as to how to remove this ban ; 

 in others, where conditions were alike for a long distance 

 in all directions, it was manifest that this section could not 

 be considered as applicable to the case, and no action was 

 taken. 



United States Inspection Laws. — For several years bills 

 of one kind or another have been presented to Congress, all 

 for the purpose of providing some check or supervision over 

 the importation of nursery stock from abroad. These bills 

 have met with considerable opposition on the part of im- 

 porters, who feared that their business might possibly be 

 interfered with or even destroyed, and on the part of nursery- 

 men, who anticipated that certain sections of the bills might 

 be so used as to shut off their business with other parts of 

 the country under terms of local quarantine. The Massa- 

 chusetts inspector has taken no active position on either side 

 of this subject, believing that as an administrative officer it 

 would be unwise for him to do so. 



